Must strike balance between traditional & digital media: Lenovo CMO

Q] It is unlikely that even post lockdown, consumers would go back to normal - some level of social distancing will be maintained... what are the different ways you are looking to enable social distancing during the purchase of your products?

We are exploring multiple options at this stage and will roll them out depending on how the situation unfolds. Safety and well-being of our employees, store staff and customers is paramount and it will continue to guide our actions.

Q] What are the different ways in which your creative agency is supporting you in this endeavour beyond making video ads?

It is but natural to think out of the box in current conditions. A couple of weeks back, we rolled out Lenovo SmarterEd, an initiative to enable students to connect with volunteer teachers. This was a campaign that required ‘out of box’ thinking from our creative partner WYP and the production house Little Lamb films. While the shoot of the film was done before the lockdown came into effect, the execution of the post-production proved to be a bit challenging. The editing and sound design had to be done entirely on Skype and the whole effort had to be pulled together while working from home. The topic of our campaign and the film is not a problem limited to the current pandemic – it always existed. The plan was to have a remote learning platform for kids. In this situation when more kids are forced to stay home, I believe it just highlights the problem. In that sense, we believe this campaign has arrived at the right time

Q] What percentage of your total advertising spends are happening on Digital right now vis-a-vis TV and other mainstream platforms? To what extent have you reduced ad spends on other mediums and why?

Right now, we are on Digital and Social media. It is natural to expect that the full media mix will start coming into play, when retail trade and e-commerce shipments start moving towards normalcy.

Q] How are your digital agencies rising up to the challenge, anything beyond the usual on the Digital front?

Our digital agencies have done a good job in adapting content and tonality to be resonant with the current times. It is important for brands to be aware of the reality and not live in their bubbles. We also listen closely to what customers are saying and are trying to support them in ways we can. We recently announced free support for all PC brands, not just Lenovo! Our digital agency has done a very good job in tandem with our services team to help customers in tricky situations.

Q] Once the pandemic is behind us, would you say the trend of spending much more on Digital medium will stay... or will Lenovo go back to spending on mainstream platforms like TV, Print in the same ratio as earlier?

I don’t see a reason why not. Television has consistently proven to be effective for brand growth across categories. With ‘Work From Home’ and ‘Learn From Home’ emerging as prominent themes, we hope to see greater adoption of computers. Our long term strategy is hinged on the right balance between traditional and digital media and I right now, don’t see that changing dramatically. In fact TV and online, both, have seen tremendous surge in consumption.

Q] Once lockdown is lifted will you be cautious about spending on ads or will you go all out?

We will calibrate our spends based on demand and therefore, business outlook. This is something that all good marketing teams do, lock down or not. India continues to be a market that holds high interest for Lenovo and we are committed to growth here.